Marks of the snake
by ravenwingcorps
Summary: He trained them, then abandoned them, Team snake will have revenge on Orochimaru, with the weapons he bestowed upon them
1. Prolouge

Marks of the snake

Prologue

Nine year old Anko Mitarashi found herself counting the tiles on the ceiling once again, it was something to keep her mind off everything and anything else, it helped dull the pain that shot through her entire body and tore through her arms and neck and made breathing painful let alone moving, even thinking hurt. It wasn't like she even wanted to think about anything it was a whole lot more simple to not think and just count the tiles. Counting the tiles was something that helped, it was a simple thing that kept her from thinking about anything since she had woken from her month long coma two hours ago.

Anko felt another stab of pain in her neck as she swallowed followed by two more shards of pain through her forearms, she knew the cause, she had seen it when she had lifted her arms earlier. Her companion in the hospital room had the same thing. Naruto was also nine years old, the blond haired boy lay in the room's other bed. Anko turned her head from counting the ceiling tiles despite the action causing another jab of pain.

His face had a look of pained peace, the whisker marks marks that adorned his cheeks games him an exotic look along with his natural tan. His chest was rising and falling slowly with his breathing, Anko had barely been awake from her own coma and Naruto had yet to wake. An IV was stuck in his arm, both of which were on resting on the cover of the bed rather than beneath it. His forearms had the same thing Anko's forearms had, a metal rectangle that was sunk into his forearm and went from just above his wrist to just below his elbow, the skin around the metal looked like it had been melted and fused to it.

Naruto shifted slightly and his eyes tightened in pain, Anko waited or his eyes to open, his eyes were a brilliant clear sky blue that held a tone of mischief in them, as his eyes opened and his head turned towards her Anko could see his eyes, they resembled a stormy sky and that spark had gone out.

"What now Anko-Chan?" His voice was raspy from lack of use and breaking from uncertainty, "I Can't go back there, not back to that orphanage." Anko knew at least some of his past before they had been taken in by _him_. It had been four years ago when he had taken in twenty children and now only Anko and Naruto remained.

Naruto had come from an abusive orphanage where he was more often than not left to fend for himself. Anko herself had come from off the streets where at least she wasn't regularly beaten half to death.

"I don't know Naruto-Kun, I really don't know" Anko knew her own voice was just as raspy and broken as his. Naruto's hand stretched out towards her, ignoring the pain Anko reached out with her own hand and held onto his.

* * *

A weary old man watched with sad eyes through the one way mirror into the secure Hospital room, the regret of being so blind to his own students actions and the pain caused to the two children only a few feet from him that they could have been spared from bore down heavily upon his shoulders.


	2. Chapter 1

**The first actual chapter, i am happy with the results from the prolouge and i hope i can keep a good story running.**

**On with chapter one of Marks of the snake**

Marks of the snake

Chapter 1

Naruto was cold; it was dark, wet and very cold; he fought the urge to cry, sat on the small bed, his back against the corner of the room, his knees pulled up to his chest, he didn't know where Anko was, they had been separated when they had been put into separate cells, he was scared, a lone thought passed through his head, _'what now?'_

**2 weeks 5 days later**

Ibiki exited the interrogation room, his face a mask of impassiveness, he looked to the third, "they don't know anything; he was using them, they should have never been put into jail."

The third sighed, if Ibiki was speaking like that, he was angry, "Many people still won't believe that, the jailing was Danzo's handiwork, he wants them for root."

Ibiki looked down, breaking his impassiveness, "Both of them are hurt, physically as well as mentally. Try to separate them....." Ibiki trailed off.

The third gave a tired sigh, _'I'm sorry minato, i thought Orochimaru was going to help him, i failed you my friend, again'_

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Naruto sat nervously in the Hokage's office, Anko sat to the side of him, they were holding hands, Naruto had refused to leave Anko; the two had stayed side by side for the past two days.

The third gave a warm smile, he knew they were hurt, despite the fact neither showed it. _'They might hide it from everyone but both of them are about to give up, the ones they considered siblings dead, at the hands of the one who they considered a father.'_

"How are you two?"

Anko shifted closer to Naruto as he answered, "Fine." His voice was dead, his eyes blank.

The third could see the tiny wince from Naruto; it was going to be a long haul to get the two to trust anyone again.

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**1 week later**

Naruto sat in the darkened living room, the midnight moonlight dancing through the bland room, he stared at the curled sleeping form of Anko, she had fallen asleep; Naruto, he thought on the past week, the only people who seemed to trust the two were the Hokage himself, the interrogator Ibiki and the mind walker Inochi, everyone else stared at him and Anko, he could feel the hatred from them.

Things had been tough, although the old man had given Him and Anko a pair of black bracers each, to cover whatever it was they had on their arms, he was grateful for that, they got less stares that way, Ibiki had set the two of them up in a two bedroom apartment in one of the nicer areas of Konoha, Inochi had taken them clothes shopping, Naruto had gotten black shinobi pants, a long sleeved black top and a faded dull red jacket, Anko had gone for a pair of black shinobi pants with a black tank top, a tan trench coat to top it off.

Naruto stared at the knife he twirled in his hand, a black non reflective knife, a wicked curved blade, an assassin's knife, a knife he would only use once, Anko had one too.

**3 days later**

Sarutobi Hiruzen looked over the file presented to him by Neko, the Anbu in charge of the Orochimaru incident.

'_What the hell have you done Orochimaru? Were you trying to build an army of super soldiers?' _

"Neko."

She dropped into a kneeling position in front of the desk.

"Get my doctor as well as Naruto and Anko."

Answers were needed.

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"I need to have a look at your arms Naruto, please, remove the bracers."

Hiruzen held back a chuckle as he saw his doctor struggle with the duo known as Anko and Naruto.

Anko was sat on the roof, upside down, twirling a black curved knife between the fingers of her right hand, '_that is one deadly weapon.'_

Naruto was in the corner of the room, "No way, no needles or anything like that, never again."

'_This could take a long time; i need that next book right now Jiraiya.'_

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Naruto and Anko were now at least co-operating...

"_Katon: Gōkakyu no Jutsu"_

"_Kamaitachi no Jutsu"_

Kind of, although the two attacks made quite a devastating fire ball.

'_Note to self Hiruzen – have Anbu learn those two... where the hell did Naruto get that sword from, it really is a nice sword.'_

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Inu knew he should have stayed in bed, when you walk into the Hokage's office to find it looking like the fourth and fifth shinobi wars had been fought in there, two kids hanging upside from the roof by a chain wrapped around their ankles and 8 Anbu all with kunai ready to throw as well as one Ibiki Morino playing parent to said two dangling kids.

'_Well things can't get any worse'_

Then the kid in the tan trench coat saw his book.

"Ohh, I've not read that one yet."

Inu woke up in hospital two days later without his orange book; his scream was heard across the elemental nations.

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In the Hokage's office, things were finally calming down.

Naruto and Anko were now sat down, Snake was in a corner in a foetal position and the rest of the 7 Anbu guards were trying to contain the inferno that had become Inu, Anko was reading said Anbu's book, the Hokage had sat behind his desk through the chaos, despite the fact his hat was on fire.

Once the Anbu had dragged Inu and Snake to the hospital and bar respectively the Hokage had calmly put his hat out and looked at the two kids, "I understand you have a problem with the medical equipment but was that really necessary."

He saw the glint in Naruto's eyes, "but it was fun old man."

Hiruzen had to smile at that, "It's good to see you two back to your old selves."

Anko giggled whilst reading the orange book she had pilfered from Inu.

Naruto warily eyed the Folder on the otherwise empty desk, "did you get that from..." Naruto suddenly stopped speaking; Anko looked at the file before the book dropped to the floor.

"I know you two are having a hard time but we need to find out exactly what changes have happened to you."

He saw the two nod slowly, still staring at the file on the desk.

"I need you two to remove the bracers so my doctor here, Eboshi can do a medical diagnostic to make sure you're both in good health."

Ibiki watched from the corner of the room, only his eyes showed his great concern for the two kids.

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Naruto stared at his arm, after two hours of medical examinations and explaining what it actually was Naruto had activated the sheaths on his forearms, a blade the length of Naruto's forearm had shot out at the wrist end; Anko had been able to do the same.

Dr. Eboshi looked at the file intently, "Hokage-sama, look at this."

As the Hokage Hiruzen had had many surprises in his life, this one made his eyes go wide.

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Ibiki stared slack jawed at Naruto, after the Hokage had looked at the file the two had been sent home, Ibiki had decided to take them out for lunch to a place he knew, Ichiraku's ramen stand.

He never counted on Naruto's eating abilities, which were nearly rivalled by Ankos.

This was going on the expenses account.

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**Two years later**

Naruto and Anko entered the classroom, which suddenly became quiet; the scarred man at the front gave a sigh, "Finally, quiet." He turned to the two new arrivals, "I was told you were joining this year, why don't you introduce yourselves."

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki" Naruto gave a slight wave.

"Anko Mitarashi." Ankos introduction was accompanied by her spinning a kunai on her finger by the ring part, many went wide eyed, a mutter of "troublesome" was heard.

Naruto looked around at that "Hey shika."

"Troublesome" Shikamaru's head met the desk with an audible thud, "we are all doomed."

Anko grinned, "Hello Ino", Ino looked like a deer caught in the headlights.

Iruka knew one thing; his class was never going to be the same.

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**Three days later**

Shikamaru knew something was going down when Sasuke stood in front him.

"How strong are Naruto and Anko?" Shikamaru could hear the arrogance in his voice_, 'damn Uchiha.'_

"Troublesome."

Sasuke grabbed the front of Shikamaru's vest, "tell me what you know."

A kunai point found itself perilously close to Sasuke's right eye.

Sasuke blinked, he knew the voice that spoke. "If you wanted to know about me Sasuke-kun you could have asked me yourself." Anko kept her voice low, speaking into Sasuke's ear, Sasuke gulped.

"Stop playing with him Anko-Chan, you don't know where the thief's been."

Sasuke's face went red with rage, he stayed still though, that kunai was way too close, "how do you know that she is playing." His statement was met by a snort from the girl behind him; she moved her kunai away from his eye before walking up the isle between the desks to where Naruto stood in the middle of the room.

The only comment came from Ino "Don't they need to breath?"

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**Several hours later**

Naruto stood across from Sasuke in the circle.

"Remember, Taijutsu only, the match ends when one of you gives up, is knocked out of the ring or just knocked out." Iruka looked at both boys before raising his arm, Sasuke settled into the Uchiha style, Naruto stood with his hands in the pockets of his jacket.

The moment Iruka dropped his arm he knew it had been a bad idea to pair the two, Sasuke launched 6 kunai towards Naruto.

Naruto leaped, doing a front flip above the kunai, upon landing two kunai sped towards sasuke who blocked with his own kunai.

"Come on Sasuke, Taijutsu only, I've yet to draw a weapon."

Sasuke was furious, "What was the two kunai you threw at me then?"

Naruto simply sidestepped and pointed to the four kunai stuck in the tree.

Sasuke charged.

Iruka and Anko were the only ones to even see the fight; Sasuke was in the hospital for two weeks, which earned Naruto much respect in the class from the male population.

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**That night**

Naruto sat on the couch in his and Anko's apartment; blood dripped from his eyes, turning the carpet crimson, Anko was asleep next to him, curled up on the couch.

They had been warned by Dr. Eboshi that this was going to happen, to both him and Anko, for the slightest of seconds he felt like he could see all around, then it was gone, blood still dripping from his eyes.

He never noticed the way the blood froze as it fell to the floor, melting long before Naruto set about cleaning it up.

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**Now the story for this has yet to be fully worked out, some questions**

**1) Should sasuke be good**

**2) How should the teams work out- im keeping team 8 and 10 the same, that leaves me with Anko, Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura, not sure if i should add two OC characters, might add in Sai, Naruto and Anko might be a two man team, i don't know yet.**

**and a small rant, what is with all the NarutoXSasuke storys out there, it's scary.**


	3. Chapter 2

**I like some bits in this chapter, others not so much.**

* * *

Marks of the snake

Chapter 2

Naruto sat facing Ibiki in his and Anko's Apartment, "Do you know what it is?"

Ibiki hesitated, unsure how to answer, "We have a guess or two, from what we read in Orochimaru's research notes."

Naruto looked at the sleeping Anko, her head resting on his shoulder; he pulled her closer to himself, seeking a source of comfort.

The low wooden table between the two couches a charred hulk, the carpet around it had actually melted.

When Anko had begun bleeding from her eyes she had staggered into the table, the moment the blood had hit the table it had set on fire, Anko had known it would seconds before it did.

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Naruto and Anko walked into the class room, everyone else was already writing from the board, Iruka turned to the two, "Where have you two been?"

Anko grinned as she span a kunai on her finger, "Hospital."

Naruto handed him the note Doctor Eboshi had given him after she left in the morning, Iruka just nodded, "Alright, go sit down." He was confused though, he had read the unclassified part of their files, they both detested hospitals so bad neither would set foot in one.

Half the class glared at him and Anko, _'Just like usual.'_ He forced his cheery grin; he could tell Anko had forced her manic grin, she always moved slightly different when she did, _'we always encounter some form of hate everywhere, I can't take it anymore.'_

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Crimson stained the sink, Naruto stared at the mirror above it, he could make out the fact that his face was deathly pale, tears mixed with the blood in the sink.

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**Following day**

Anko gripped Naruto's hand in a death grip; she was curled up on a chair next to the Hospital bed Naruto was in, his face was still pale, Anko stared at Naruto, tears streaming down her face. Naruto was unconscious, both of his wrists heavily bandaged. An ANBU wearing a Neko mask stood in the corner, the scene in front of her causing her to nearly cry herself.

Iruka stood outside the hospital room, as a ninja few things truly scared him to the core, the man stood in front of him was one of those things, Morino Ibiki.

"Iruka isn't it?"

"Y-Yeah."

"Naruto and Anko spoke highly of you." Iruka was surprised at this, "You know Naruto and Anko?"

Ibiki's grin could give kids nightmares, "yeah, I get along with the two quite well, help them train every now and again."

Iruka fell silent for a moment, "W-what can you tell me about the two?"

Ibiki looked down, "It started when they were both five, maybe before that."

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Both Ibiki and Iruka were now in one of Konoha's many bars.

"Kids shouldn't deserve to be treated like that." Iruka was seething, "Because of Danzo they spent two weeks in the cells, damn council."

Ibiki nodded, "I thought that we had made improvements with them." Ibiki gave a sad sigh, "This incident with Naruto just proves me wrong."

"Is he gonna be alright?" The concern was obvious in Iruka's voice.

"Yeah, he heals really fast; there will be some scaring though."

"How bad?"

"Not too bad"

Iruka nodded, "That's something at least."

Ibiki shook his head, "If Naruto scars, then it's bad, my worry is next time."

Iruka's head whipped round to face Ibiki, "Next time, it might be a double suicide attempt."

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Naruto strained to see, the blinding light hurting his eyes, he felt the blanket on top of him, felt the grip on his hand, the tightness around his wrists.

He turned his head sideways to his left, eyes adjusting to the light, his voice was grainy, "A-Anko-chan."

She instantly snapped awake, Neko slipped out the door.

As Doctor Eboshi walked down the corridor she was met with a strange sight, Morino Ibiki, Neko, Yamanaka Inochi and surprisingly the Hokage all staring through the crack of the open door.

The Hokage without looking at her waved her over, she moved behind the Hokage and peered through the gap, "About damn time those two got together." She kept her voice to a whisper.

Inochi spoke, "For nearly two years the two of them have been attracted to each other, it took Naruto nearly dying to get things going."

The five giggled.

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**Two weeks later**

Sasuke was in one hell of a bad mood, He sat in his usual seat, the middle of the room; he may outwardly look like he hated all the fan girls, in reality, he loved it, which was why he sat in the middle of the room.

Now although he still had the fan girls, he had lost respect with the guys, he hated being second best, the fact that Naruto and Anko had only been in one day since Naruto had put him in hospital; that spiked his curiosity.

Naruto slowly awoke, he hated mornings, Anko did too.

He turned his head to the left to look at the clock next to his bed, he saw the time, "Anko-Chan, we're late." Today was the day Naruto had been cleared to go back to the academy.

Anko, from her place on top of him, gave Naruto a glare, "We'll go tomorrow."

Ever since Naruto had been released from hospital and declared mentally fit by Inochi, Anko had slept with Naruto in his room; Naruto winced, feeling the familiar twitch of pain in his neck.

He looked to the picture next to his clock, the picture of Orochimaru's twenty apprentices, it had been taken when they were 6, He looked at the words engraved on the frame, _"Wanting to be someone else is a waste of the person you are." - Kurt Cobain, _somehow, the words gave him courage.

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**Following day**

Naruto and Anko walked into the classroom, Iruka looked at the two his face going through several emotions; shock, understanding and sadness before he settled for smiling at the two.

Anko gave his hand a light squeeze before dashing off, she made a beeline for Ino, Naruto chuckled, "You alright Naruto?" Naruto looked at Iruka, puzzled, "Why wouldn't i be?"

Iruka's smile broke into a sad expression, "I heard about what happened and i also talked to Ibiki."

Naruto looked down, "What did he tell you?"

"Everything, you can come talk to me anytime." Naruto looked up with a grin.

A yell had the two looking around at the classroom, "LET ME DOWN ANKO!"

Naruto laughed, "When Anko said three months ago that she was going to give Ino a wedgie, i never thought she would... or hang her from the roof"

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The class stood outside next to the arena that had seen Sasuke's defeat.

"Alright people, today we will have a Taijutsu tournament, the ma..." Iruka was interrupted.

"Does that mean we get to see dickless get his ass handed to him again?"

Sasuke rounded on the boy, "Shut up Sai."

Iruka sighed, then smirked, "If Sasuke makes it to the Semi-finals then it is a big possibility."

Sasuke glared at Iruka, "First match is Inuzuka Kiba against Uzumaki Naruto."

Naruto and Kiba stood five meters apart in the 6 meter diameter ring, Kiba crouched, ready to go on all fours, Naruto stood, his hands in his jacket pockets, Anko was smirking, Sakura moved to Ino, "Who do you think is going to win?"

Ino shook her head, "The question is will Naruto leave Kiba alive?"

Sakura looked shocked at the hint of Naruto's strength, "Begin." Iruka's yell had Kiba rushing towards Naruto bringing himself up from his crouch going for a right hook to Naruto's head.

Naruto simply leaned back, letting Kiba's fist pass his face, he then leaned further back to avoid Kiba's right elbow as it followed, as Kiba's arm came down and his left came up for a straight punch, Naruto leant forward again with blinding speed, head butting Kiba in the bridge of his nose, dazing him and sending him staggering back, Naruto stepped forward his knee came and impacted with Kiba's gut, making him double over in pain, Naruto took a step back as Kiba collapsed.

"Winner Naruto."

The semi finals of the Taijutsu tournament were intresting, Anko against Ino and Sasuke against Naruto.

Anko and Ino stood in the ring, "Begin."

Ino didn't even blink before Anko's punch had her in the temple and on the floor in a heap, 5 feet away.

The next fight was the most anticipated, the rematch, the two stood in the arena, Naruto in his usual stance, hands in the pockets of his faded red jacket. Sasuke stood at the other side of the ring, in the Uchiha style.

"Last time you won by luck, it won't happen this time." Sasuke was sneering at Naruto, who gave him a grin.

"Begin."

This time, Naruto didn't wait, he blurred, past human sight, he was airborne, hands still in his pockets, behind Sasuke, at head height, feet level with his own head, both legs slightly bent, his left slightly straighter, his right leg moved forward, almost connecting with Sasuke's head before he bent his right leg again, his left switching places with his right, smashing into the side of Sasuke's head, sending him flying, the class was left speechless, Anko grinned, "Scissor smash, Very painful."

Naruto twisted, landing on his leg, facing away from his original position, hands still in his pocket.

Kiba whistled, "Damn."

"I've never seen that move before." Iruka was interested.

Naruto grinned, "My own creation"

A silver haired man approached, "very impressive" Naruto glared at the man, taking his hands out of his pockets, Anko glared at the man as well.

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It was hitting evening time, the third sat on the couch across from Naruto and Anko in their apartment, Anko was laying down, resting her head on Naruto's knee, the third had to smile, _'Throughout their life neither of them had anyone to show them affection, now they take all they can from each other.' _He then sighed at the subject of the conversation, "Are you sure?"

Naruto nodded, "Positive, there are very few people that smell of snakes as strong as him, me and Anko are the only two people that should have that scent, he has some form of mark, an identity one I think, he didn't have one on his neck."

The third sighed "I'll look into it, would you two help out if he is a traitor?"

Both nodded quickly, "Sure thing old man." Both were in sync with each other.

Hiruzen chuckled, "You two really go well together and we all had bets on when it would happen, Inochi won."

Naruto and Anko both blushed, "Just don't get up to too much until you both at least reach Genin."

Naruto did a fish impression, Anko had a grin.

The third laughed before his face turned serious, "Naruto, Anko, i have something to tell you."

The two snapped to attention, "I've been holding several things back until I thought you were ready, i will tell you everything, but it will be in bits, i want to make sure you can handle it all, is that alright?"

Both nodded in understanding, though they looked upset.

"There was another person that was found in one of Orochimaru's labs."

Anko sat up, "He was nowhere near as bad as you two, he just had to deal with being abandoned, i want him to stay here with you two."

Naruto spoke, "If he was abandoned by him then he will be staying here, that makes him family, right Anko-chan."

Anko nodded, "Yeah."

"You can come in now."

A young boy the same age as Naruto and Anko walked in.

* * *

**We have a newcomer cookie to anyone who can guess who he is, also he will be the third memer of team 6, team six and seven are as follows  
**

**Team six - Naruto, Anko, ?**

**Team seven - Sasuke, Saukra, Sai**

**and a second cookie to anyone who can guess Narutos and Ankos bloodlines**

**Houkaru Kisaragi was right in that the bleeding from the eyes was indeed a side effect of a bloodline**,** cookie to him**


	4. Chapter 3

**A/N this chapter is way too short, Despite all that happens in it, i hate it**

Marks of the snake

Chapter 3

The brown haired boy wore a white vest with a pair of black shorts and a pair of shinobi sandals, Naruto leaned to Anko slightly, "His eyes are creepy."

The third gave a slight sigh at Naruto's stage whisper, '_they still throw up a mask around people.'_

"The name's Tenzo."

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**Later in the day**

Naruto, Anko and Tenzo sat at Ichiraku's ramen stand.

"So, he used you as well?" Naruto stopped eating his ramen to ask the question.

Tenzo nodded, eating at a slower pace than the two next to him, he had requested Anko sit away from him, knifes hurt believe it or not.

"I never trusted him, so he sealed me in a lab; I learnt everything I could from him." Tenzo drew a black curved knife, "I plan to kill him; this knife is something he gave me..." Tenzo broke off at the identical knifes held by Naruto and Anko, the three grinned as they looked at the three identical knives, an unspoken promise between them.

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Across the street the Hokage and Ibiki sat with Hayate Gekko, Konoha's weapon expert and Tokubetsu Jonin.

"You think you can take them as a team."

Hayate nodded, "It gives me *cough* a promotion and a chance *cough* to teach the three most talented *cough* kids Konoha has ever seen... they could be *cough* the next generation of Sannin."

Ibiki gave a small smile, The Hokage nodded.

It was at this point, Team snake was born.

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**Following day**

Sasuke glared at Naruto and Anko when they entered.

Naruto ignored him, Anko blew him a kiss.

Tenzo followed them in, looking around the room, "you two aren't that popular with the ladies are you?"

Naruto grinned, "Come with putting the ladies man in hospital."

Tenzo laughed, "The Uchiha right?"

Naruto nodded, "I'm winning two for two."

Sasuke having heard this conversation found himself with a nervous twitch.

"With all those fan girls throwing themselves at him..." Anko shook her head with a grin, "he might be gay."

Tenzo looked confused for a moment before he caught on, "He's never even dated one?"

"Nope." The three broke out into laughter; out in the corridor Iruka recognised the laughter of Anko and Naruto and shivered.

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The class watched in fascination as Iruka threw the door open and dived into the room, rolling to come up standing in front of his desk in a defensive stance, when nothing happened he looked at Anko and Naruto, "No traps?" the two shook their heads, the floor fell away from beneath him.

Anko, Naruto and Tenzo laughed.

"Why me?" everyone else but Sasuke laughed.

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The Hokage looked at the two men sat in front of his desk.

"Do you think that they're ready for that Hokage-sama?"

"No, that's why you two are here."

Ibiki nodded, "I believe they are ready."

Inochi sighed, "We do this today then."

"Next week we inform them of the bloodlines."

The two men agreed.

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Naruto looked at the sealing scroll the Hokage had placed in front of him, "What's this?"

The Hokage gave a grin, "When you graduate you three will carry the rank of Genin, unofficially you will also be..." At this point he unrolled and unsealed the scroll, revealing the three masks, "ANBU."

Naruto, Anko and Tenzo each grinned.

On the table sat three black masks, one with three red marks adorning each cheek with two pointed ears on top, one with golden diamonds running down the middle and a white forked tongue and the third had red tiger stripes around the edge.

"Congratulations Team Snake."

The three looked at the door where Inochi, Ibiki and a third man stood.

Ibiki spoke, "Today we'll get you ANBU tattoos done as well as a storage seal on the inside of your right wrist for the masks."

"Yeah!" Naruto and Anko danced around the apartment.

The Hokage smiled at the sight, _'The old Naruto is slowly coming back.'_

Inochi looked at the third man, "reckon you can handle Genin that outrank you Hayate?"

"i think *cough* so."

Ibiki blinked before he did an impression of a fish, "I think it would be best if we left and did the Tattoos tomorrow."

The other three men looked around and quickly agreed.

"I so ain't listing to this." Tenzo walked into his room, flopped onto the bed and put a pillow over his head.

_(A/N) no they didn't, they just...'played around' a little)_

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Sasuke charged Naruto in the ring once again, Naruto just back flipped catching Sasuke's chin with his foot sending him sprawling.

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Naruto drove his kick into Sasuke's groin making everyman watch whimper at the girly high pitched scream that came from Sasuke.

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Sasuke saw Naruto's elbow as it came towards his face sending him sprawling and seeing stars.

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Naruto's fist lazily came into to contact with the running Sasuke's face.

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Naruto looked nervously at the Hokage, "What's this about old man." Anko looked confused.

"What else Orochimaru did to you."

Naruto nodded hesitantly, "What else did he do?" his voice was breaking as he spoke.

"He gave you two a bloodline or two." The Hokage gave a smile at the expected response.

"What?" Naruto and Anko shout was in perfect sync.

"Naruto you have the Byakugan and the Hyoton bloodlines."

"T-The Byakugan." Naruto was stunned.

"Anko you have the Sharingan and the Kaenton bloodlines."

"Awesome, i get the Sharingan."

"You also both have accelerated regeneration."

"WHAT?!"

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Anko flew backwards, her trench coat on fire, a good sized crater where she started.

Naruto found himself inside a block of ice...somehow.

Tenzo sighed and prepared a Katon jutsu to thaw Naruto out...again.

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"Byakugan." The veins around Naruto's eyes bulged slightly whilst his blue eyes turned to a pale white.

"This is so cool." Naruto kept looking about, "I can see behind me, awesome."

"Sharingan." Anko's eyes quickly became red, two black tomoe in her left eye and one in her right.

"Sasuke is going to be so pissed about this."

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"W-What!?" Sasuke's eyes went wide as he stared at Anko's red eyes.

"B-But, Why can you do that? I'm the last Uchiha."

Anko laughed as she deactivated the sharingan, "You don't have to be an Uchiha to have the Sharingan Sasuke."

"B-B-But... H-H-How..." Sasuke continued to splutter, he seemed to be quite angry.

"Just because she's better at your own bloodline limit doesn't mean you have to be angry at her dickless."

"Shut up Sai." Sakura's fist smacked into the back of Sai's head sending him face first to the floor.

Sai mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like 'Flat-chested whore.'

Naruto, Anko and Tenzo laughed at that.

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Sasuke's face met the heel of Naruto's foot sending him flying into a tree.

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Sasuke found himself hung up-side down from a tree, Anko's active sharingan eyes staring at him.

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**4 Months later**

Naruto jumped to the left, dodging the wooden spike that would have buried itself into his skull.

Anko's fire ball hit the second wooden spike heading her way, burning the wood to ash. The tree root that tried to wrap around Naruto's middle was frozen before it could, Naruto leaped, pushing off from the frozen root launching himself towards Tenzo; Activating his Byakugan he could see Anko creating another fire attack to launch, Naruto's left forearm blade shot out of its sheath, stopping an inch away from Tenzo's throat, his left forearm blade shout out and launched an arc of wind through Anko's fire ball forcing Anko to dodge the oncoming arc, the second arc of wind hit her into a tree, she slumped at the bottom, dazed.

Tenzo sighed, "I lost, again." Naruto retracted his blades, and moved towards Anko, as he spoke, "It's because of the fact that both me and Anko have two bloodlines and advanced regeneration."

Anko quickly recovered from the minor injuries and the three were on their way, almost inseparable.

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**Following day**

Uchiha Sasuke stared at the sky above him; Anko's head came into view from his left, "You have been weighed."

Tenzo came into view from the right, "You have been measured."

Naruto came into view from above him, "And you have been found Wanting."

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**The end was inspired by a knights tale and a story in the Naruto fanfiction section, don't remember which though**

**The Greatest of These is Love pointed out to me that the last part was wanting, not lacking, blame my bad memory**

**also two cookies to deltabeta26, he hit the third team member and the bloodline right on**


	5. Chapter 4

**Hopefully people find this so much better than the last chapter, a bit longer, a few fight scenes which im not so good at writing, we'll see how it goes.**

**K7083 - i tried to have less breaks this time around, thanks for the sugestion**

**MelloJello - i worked on being more descriptive and jumping around less, i think i suceded**

**MRCOOLGH - i will assume you have never seen a knights tale and leave it at that**

**On with the chapter.**

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Marks of the Snake

Chapter 4

**Genin Exam**

"So today is the day." Tenzo was walking down the street with Naruto and Anko.

"Yeah, Today, Team Snake will come into existence officially." Naruto's arms were behind his head as he walked.

Anko twirled her black knife, "Do you ever think that we'll ever be able to get him?" Anko didn't need to say who she meant by _him_, that was Team Snake's primary objective, The Hokage, Ibiki and Inochi had all made it clear that they were going to be the team to do it, they had the drive to.

The other two were silent in response to her question.

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**Written Exam**

Naruto rocked his chair back onto two legs and put his feet on the table, next to his completed test, and for once felt thankful that Anko had made him read the study material. Currently the trio had been split up, Anko sat in the front left seat with Tenzo sat in the front right and Naruto in the middle back, Iruka had split them up in hopes of reducing the probability of pranks.

'_Fat chance of that.'_

Naruto grinned seeing the subtle shift in Anko as she sat 'doing her test', really she had finished it but the only people who would be able to tell that were Naruto, Tenzo, Hinata and if he was actually awake to see it rather than having his head on his desk Shikamaru who was sitting next to Anko.

The trio executed the plan, each making subtle movements, hiding the hand seals they were doing.

Sasuke stared in shock at his test paper; flames flickered about the paper, through the fire he could see white; his paper unburnt. Iruka dropped through a hole in the floor.

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**Taijutsu exam**

Neko was nervous, she hadn't seen Naruto or Anko in nearly three years and she had no doubt that they would remember her, although she had been asked to get them before she had sent Hawk to do it; but there was no doubt they would remember her and react badly, neither would forget the masked Anbu that had led them both to cells in Konoha jail and brought them both their food, never once speaking to them, she had hated every moment, she knew they would hate her.

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"Alright, this is how things are going to go, I will call you to the sparing room, there you will be tested and from there you will head to the Ninjutsu section where Mizuki will administer that test, any questions?"

At the lack of questions he called out the first name, "Anko Mitarashi."

Anko stood up and left the room, turning to give a wink to Naruto as she left, Tenzo seemed to grin, not looking at Anko as he did, There was a quiet '_Eep_'.

After a few minutes Sakura leaned over to Ino sat next to her, "How come Naruto's so tense." Ino hesitated with her answer, "Both Naruto and Anko are always tense when they get separated." Sakura opened her mouth to speak the words not leaving her mouth before Ino cut her off, "Not my place to say."

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Anko stepped into the sparring room and glanced around, she tensed even further at the sight of Neko, recognition in her eyes; she slid her tan trench coat to the floor leaving her dressed in a black tank top and black three quarter pants, Anko didn't say anything, she just lunged forward, leaving a slight after image, coming in with a left hook aimed at Neko's ribs, Neko took a step back letting the punch pass in front of her, she never expected Anko to slide further forward and bring her left elbow up, impacting the bottom of the mask, her right hand shot out delivering a knife-like strike to Neko's abdomen.

Neko gasped and stumbled back, she just managed to bring her right hand up as Anko's fist came towards her face, grabbing hold of her fist Neko pulled Anko forwards smashing her left forearm into Anko's chest, letting go of Anko's fist Neko dropped and performed a leg sweep dropping Anko to the floor.

Neko jumped back, "They were the only orders i ever truly considered disobeying."

Anko stood up, "What do you mean?"

"I was under orders to take you two to the cells, I never wanted to."

Anko seemed to collapse, huddled on the floor, Neko dashed forward, "I always wanted to hate you for it, I could see you do, I wanted to blame you."

Neko made her choice after hearing Anko's whisper, "Danzo."

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Iruka walked back into the room, "Naruto Uzumaki"

"Sensei?" Iruka looked at Sakura as she asked her question, "How come Naruto and Anko are first?"

Iruka grinned, "We are going by grades throughout this year, the highest mark go first, Naruto, Anko and Tenzo all tied top."

Sakura gaped and if looks could kill Sasuke would have killed everyone in the room, "What, Sasuke got fourth?" Ino flinched from the shrill scream from her pink haired friend, Iruka then proceeded to destroy Sakura's hopes and dreams, "Fifth, Ino got fourth." Ino, Sakura and Sasuke all chocked on thin air.

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Naruto stepped into the room and Neko knew he wasn't going to be as easy to deal with as Anko; he was going to use sharp pointy objects.

He just dropped his jacket, pulled up the sleeves on his top and lunged, the blades shooting out from his forearm sheaths, Neko had to duck his left arm horizontal slash then lean back till she was nearly laying on the floor dodging his right stab that would have hit her in the face.

Neko grasped his arms at the elbow and flipped Naruto to the floor, kneeling on his legs Neko whispered one word. "Danzo"

Naruto didn't move, "Danzo ordered your stint in the cells, i never wanted to lock you two in there."

The tension mostly dropped from Naruto, although some remained and he slumped, the blades retracting. "Arigato."

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**Ninjutsu test**

A surprising amount of people noticed that Naruto and Anko were less tense than before, perhaps the less tense they had been since they had entered the class room nearly a year ago.

Tenzo was the first to notice the cold fire that existed in the eyes of his two friends, from his usual position at Naruto's right he leaned slightly closer, "What happened?"

Naruto spoke slowly and in the same low tone as Tenzo, not quite a whisper, not quite talking, "we know who to settle the score with." Tenzo nodded, "Looks like I get to sharpen my skills."

"Just let us kill him." Anko's voice was void of emotion; her head rested on Naruto's left shoulder.

"And get in the way of your target, no thanks, I don't need a trip to hospital, it's lonely in there."

Despite the obvious sarcasm in his voice Naruto and Anko still looked guilty at his comment.

"Don't blame yourselves for it, I wouldn't set foot in a hospital or be anywhere near one if I was you." The two visibly relaxed, looking less guilty.

"Anko Mitarashi" Mizuki looked at Anko as she walked forward, he spoke to the class as a whole despite his stare, "For this portion of the exam you will perform four Jutsu, the three basic and a fourth of your choosing, when you're ready Anko."

Anko flawlessly performed the three basic Jutsu, Kawarimi, Henge and Bunshin.

"And a fourth Jutsu please Anko." Mizuki looked a bit sour.

"Doton: Doryūsō" Anko did the bird seal and a foot area in from of her was suddenly riddled with spikes rising from the ground. Mizuki looked like he wanted to kill something; Naruto smiled at that, the class gaped at the Jutsu.

Sasuke looked like he wanted to explode in a quick fiery gory death of envy.

Not many would have cared, only one or two diehard fans still liked the Uchiha, seeing him get pounded into the dirt nearly every day had reduced his popularity.

"Naruto Uzumaki."

Naruto stepped forward, performing the Henge and Kawarimi; he stopped and turned to Mizuki, "Can i do any Bunshin?" Mizuki seemed to think a moment, "The test only states a bunshin, not the type." Naruto nodded, "Kage Bunshin No Jutsu." His hands formed a cross seal and he was surrounded by a cloud of smoke before three identical copies surrounded him.

Mizuki nodded in satisfaction, if grudgingly. "A fourth Jutsu please."

"Katon: Hōsenka no Jutsu" Naruto did some quick hand seals before blowing out several balls of fire creating several large craters.

Sasuke looked like he wanted to scream.

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**Hokage's office**

Hiruzen Sarutobi looked at the three newly promoted Genin stood in front of him, all three wore the Konoha Forehead protector proudly, he didn't miss the cold fire that existed in the eyes of Naruto and Anko, Neko had already told him the story.

"Old man..." Naruto seemed unsure at how to proceed.

"Danzo." Anko wasn't hesitant.

"Will I need to have a grave dug then?" A sigh came with the question as the old Hokage felt the weight of his years.

"You will." Tenzo lacked the cold fire the other two had yet he was still just as determined, "He hurt my family, he won't get away unpunished."

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Danzo's Residence

Three figures cloaked in Dark gray and with black masks ghosted around the perimeter; easily picking out the guards, where they stood, patrol routes, missing parts of the guard.

Tiger ghosted over the wall as the Root agent turned, landing in a crouch he let a kunai fly, severing the spine of the man at the neck; Tiger caught the man and dragged him to the bushes, hiding the body. Two seconds later another Root agent appeared, looking around in confusion before turning his back to the wall, he never realised his mistake, Snake seemed to melt out of the wall, slitting the throat of the man in an almost loving fatal caress; Snake stashed the body in another bush, Snake slid along the wall, sticking to the shadows, Tiger followed at a distance, Fox seemed to appear as he dropped next to the two, "Four are patrolling, two are still at their posts, two others just went inside." His voice was a whisper.

The trio moved like ghosts once again, six men fell, entering that never waking sleep.

They entered through the back window, slipping towards where the sound of a crackling fire came from within the dim four story building. The two Kunai hit the last two root agents in the forehead and throat respectively, they dropped, the old bandaged man stood in front of them turned to face the attackers, he had a disarming grin on his face, "To what do i owe the pleasure ANBU-san."

Walls of ice formed around him, Solid, smooth and almost invisible; It was almost serene in the room, then the fire began inside the walls of ice, his attempts at escape and putting the fire out failed, as his body burned he looked towards the two ANBU maintain his fiery prison, his last view of the world were two cold sets of eyes, and two faces he knew so well.

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That night Naruto held Anko as she cried; Anko held Naruto as he cried, an old man sat in a tower leaned away from the crystal ball on his desk and smiled, things would be alright.

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**And so ends Danzo, one more hurdle in the recovery of Naruto and Anko has been jumped, and Tenzos romantic interest has been foreshadowed, cookie if you can guess.**


	6. Chapter 5

**I like how this chapter turned out.**

**No one was able to correctly guess the tenzo pairing, another hint is dropped in here, it may be worth noting that samjaz got it right away, he's not allowed to tell though.**

**Links to the pictures of the weapons are at the end of the chapter.  
**

Marks of the Snake

Chapter 5

**Team assignment day**

"So what are we doing here again?" Tenzo looked at the grinning faces of his two companions and felt a chill.

The three stood atop the thirds head on the Hokage monument, anchored with chakra in their feet against the harsh morning winds.

"Why we happen to be spray painting the Old man's head so that he looks like a pink-haired drag queen." Naruto grinned through his answer.

Tenzo nodded in resignation, "I had hoped I heard wrong."

Anko grinned; a spray can of pink paint in her left hand and black in her right, "You heard wrong."

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The third had to do a serious double take when he did his morning routine of staring at the carved faces of his predecessors and successor from the top of the Hokage tower, his own face had been painted.

Bright-pink hair, black eye-liner, purple lipstick and what appeared to be blush, he didn't even need to ask who had done it, he already knew.

"Neko."

The masked ANBU appeared knelt down behind the Hokage, "Hai."

"Would you kindly retrieve Team Snake once they have finished today's team meeting."

"Hai." A small laugh escaped Neko as she stood up and disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

"Everyone's a critic." The third sighed and lit his pipe.

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"Alright everyone, calm down."

Iruka finally managed to get the class calmed down enough for everyone to take their seat, no one was arguing to sit next to sasuke Sakura and Ami were the only ones who wanted to sit next to him, watching him get beaten by Naruto almost every day had put a dint in his popularity.

The fact that everyone was now sat down also gave Naruto a clear shot with the peashooter he had, the projectile, a frozen pea, bounced off Iruka's forehead with enough force to rock his head back, much to the amusement of the rest of the class, Sasuke just looked sour.

Iruka glared at Naruto, "Anko, would you keep your boyfriend under control."

Anko gave a playful grin as she leaned over to Naruto who was as usual sat next to her and in a stage whisper that was clearly audible to Iruka spoke, "See if you can get it up his nose."

Iruka face palmed, "Should've known." The class burst into laughter.

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"So who gets the unruly duo then pops?" The chain smoking Jonin Asuma Sarutobi had to grin at the spectacle that the soon to be Jonin instructors were watching in the Thirds crystal ball.

The third gave a glance around, "He's not here yet."

A murmur went around the room, the Jonin were already gathered, no one knew who was missing.

"Sorry I'm *cough* late." Hayate entered the room, coughing as usual.

"What held you up Hayate, Yugao pin you down in the bedroom again?" The third kept a straight face as Hayate went into a real coughing fit, a round of laughter came from the assembled Jonin at Hayate's expense.

Once his fit had died down Hayate gave a grin, "I was talking to Inochi-san and Ibiki-san about my students." The third gave an approving nod Hayate continued "I picked up what I hope to be ideal weapons."

"Isn't Hayate only a Tokubetsu Jonin?" The question came from the red eyed Yuhi Kurenai.

The Hokage nodded, "He was, he has recently received a promotion." A round of congratulations came from the Jonin, and then a poof of smoke, "Yo." Hatake Kakashi had finally arrived, orange book in hand, he looked around, "What did I miss?"

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"Alright team one will be..."

The troublesome trio didn't bother listing to the team announcements; they were more concerned on teasing Tenzo on where his gaze was drifting to, "She is pretty nice..." Naruto was interrupted by his girlfriend "Mostly." Naruto kept going as if he hadn't been interrupted, "She isn't lacking in confidence either..." Naruto was once again interrupted, "Buckets of the stuff." "She is quite pretty as well..."

"Team six will be Uzumaki Naruto, Mitarashi Anko and Tenzo under Hayate Gekko." No one in the class was surprised by the team... or the sudden trio of cheers... or the Kunai that made its way towards Iruka. Iruka himself let a ghost of a smile reach his face as what for Anko a positive gesture, one that Iruka hadn't worked out the meaning of but a good one none the less. He simply tilted his head letting the projectile pass as he continued reading.

"Team seven will be Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura and Sai under Hatake Kakashi." There was the inevitable banshee scream from Sakura, a mutter from Sai that sounded much like "Flat-chested whore and the dick-less wonder." And in a rare display of what could only be called emotion... Sasuke's face met the desk with an audible thud.

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Team Six stood in the overgrown and unused training ground Thirty-six. Hayate stood in front of his three students and gave a warm grin at them, although the three were uneasy, Naruto and Anko more so than Tenzo they were slightly at ease with him, he had been there when they received their ANBU masks and later their ANBU tattoos and the storage seal for the mask that for Anko and Tenzo was on the inside right wrist and for Naruto, because of the scaring on his wrists, on his right palm.

"Today is only meant to be a team meeting before the final exam, which you three don't have to do." A look of confusion passed across the faces of the three, "How come?" Naruto seemed more interested than the other two. Hayate kept smiling, "The final exam is to test if you are able to work as a team, which, if the way you non-lethally incapacitated and pick-pocketed every Jonin and ANBU in the Dead Hand was any indication you are already good at." The Dead Hand being an ANBU and Jonin only bar, which the three members of Team six had access to, the Genin actually being ANBU.

"Instead today I will be giving you some weapons I picked out for you after my talk with Inochi-San and Ibiki-San..." a chorus of cheers met him, Tenzo could be as childish as his two friends after all, "And you three will be given your ANBU gear as well as a tour around ANBU HQ and shown your rooms there."

Neko seemed to phase into existence next to Hayate, "I will be dealing with the ANBU side and I will also show you some ANBU specific moves." Neko reached up and removed her mask. "I am Yugao Uzuki."

It was Tenzo that spoke up first, "Are you allowed to remove your mask?" Yugao smiled, "Hayate, being my boyfriend already knows that I am an ANBU and you three are ANBU yourselves so I am allowed." Naruto seemed to think for a moment before speaking, "How come we're still Genin if we're ANBU as well?"

Yugao nodded, "Contrary to popular belief a Ninja of any rank can be an ANBU as well as their own rank; you lack the field experience for a rank Chunin or Jonin rank yet have the skill to be ANBU, hence Genin ANBU."

"Now then...On to the weapons." Hayate grinned, this was his favourite part; he grabbed a canvas duffel bag from the floor next to him, opening it he reached into it and pulled out what appeared to be two knuckle dusters with three long claws attached to them, "Pantera claws, suited to a more animalistic fighting style." Naruto grinned, "Me, right?" Hayate handed him the claws and two thigh holsters for them, "Right."

Anko rocked on her feet as she saw the next weapon, two ornate black handled knives, "Anko." Hayate grinned as he handed the weapons to her with two sheaths for them that had belt loops; she instantly strapped the two knives to her belt, one either side, "For a fast and close combat type."

The last weapon he pulled out were two tomahawk axes with a spike on the back, black in colour, he handed them to Tenzo, "For a more powerful fighting style." Tenzo strapped the two axes to his belt.

Yugao smiled, "For now you three will be coming with me to The Dead Hand where in the back room we will get your outfits." Yugao replaced her mask.

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Neko stepped into The Dead Hand, the black masked Kitsune, Hebi and Tora followed her. A silver haired, one eyed man known as Kakashi with his ever present orange book looked over at the new arrivals, "New recruits Neko?" Neko nodded, "Yup, just getting their outfits." She cocked her head to the side, "Shouldn't you be meeting your Genin team."

Kakashi returned his attention to his book, "I've still got time; I'm only an hour late." Neko shook her head before continuing to the back wall of the dimly lit bar... and through it. The three Genin ANBU followed her through the wall to find themselves in a small room with a steel door in front of them.

Neko spoke up, "That wall is a special Genjutsu that only those with an ANBU tattoo can pass through, this door has a three digit code to open, Seven, Three and Nine." Each number she spoke was timed to the press of a button on the keypad which gave a soft pulse of light and the door swung open. "Welcome to ANBU's clothing store and entrance to ANBU HQ number 1."

A blank masked ANBU was waiting in the next room for them, the room itself lined from the floor to the roof with clothing of all kinds; another steel door was at the back of the room. Once the steel door they had entered through closed Neko and the Blank masked ANBU removed their masks, Yugao motioned for the three to do the same. The three did so and looked at the man as he began speaking, "Names Wakashizi, often called Kaz, I'm ANBU's clothes supplier and repairer." The man had Messy green hair and deep green eyes with a kind smile. "So what do the Rookies need Yugao."

"Two male Type 4s, one with the forearm bracers removed and a Type 4 female that also has the forearm bracers removed." Kaz nodded, "So, those rookies then." He turned to the three, "Come on, let's get you outfitted."

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Yugao led the trio through the underground HQ, "To the left is the Captain's office, on the right is the armoury." Yugao gestured to doors as they walked down the bland hallway. "Here is the Barracks for Squad six, that's us, there's a common room and four bedrooms each with an en-suit bathroom, a kitchen is also in common room and the squad captains office, for the time being i will be your ANBU squad leader and Hayate will be your Genin squad leader, any questions?"

Tenzo spoke up, "Who will be taking over from you when you leave?"

"One of you three, you will also be choosing your own fourth member."

The three grinned; Neko spoke up again, "You will also refer to each ANBU other than myself as senpai, when we work as a team I will be Sensei, other than that I senpai will do... whilst you have your masks on, oh, and any newer ANBU will be the ones calling you senpai."

Naruto nodded, "Cool."

An unmasked ANBU nodded to the four as he passed, Yugao smiled, "Welcome to ANBU."

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The trio sat in the common room of the squad six barracks, Yugao had left, going to Hayate's apartment; whistles had followed her from Naruto and Anko, now the three sat alone, Naruto and Tenzo grinned at each other, each held a knife to the inside of their right forearm, making a cut half the length of their forearms before pressing the wound they each had against the others.

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The Old Man leaned back in his seat and took the record of Tenzo from his desk, "Tenzo Uzumaki... Naruto and Tenzo, brothers born of a blood ritual, i don't think they even realised." A true smile graced the face of a weathered old man.

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**Like the chapter? review  
**

**Weaponry - remove spaces  
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**Naruto - **http: // the dark blade . com / wp - content / uploads / anderson - cultery - special - edition - pantera - claws - 300 x 300 . jpg

**Anko - **http: // the dark blade . com / wp - content / uploads / Draco - Twin - Daggers . jpg** - the daggers are the same size rather than one being smaller as in the picture and there are two sepreate sheaths**

**Tenzo - **http: // i153 . photo bucket . com / albums / s216 / phyre blade _ blog / Realm % 20 Collections / Black _ Ronin _ Toma hawk . jpg


	7. Chapter 6

**For me it's currently half five in the morning and i have just finished writing this chapter, just though you might like to know, i had hoped to get this finished and out earlier but i have been suffering from depression so it was kind of delayed, sorry.**

**And just so you know, i find it funny to put Naruto and Anko in awkward situations just to cause havok, regardless, this chapter marks the beginning of where i start delving into the past at points, also i have only recived one definitive guess o the Tenzo pairing, MRCOOLGH believes it to be Neko/Yugao, id like to hear people guesses and theory as to why, i want to see if anyone can get the first clue.**

**And to explain the Kaenton bloodline, it uses a mix of the fire and wind element to create and manipulate fire, its limits are as of yet unknown although it can be unstable**

Marks of the Snake

Chapter 6

_Light slowly filtered in through his eyes as Naruto struggled awake, his body felt restricted, the air was freezing cold on his bare chest, Goosebumps formed across his body, he focused on the room he was in first, like he had been taught; the room was dimly lit, the roof was an odd yellowing gray sort of colour, bubbling sounds echoed in the room. A voice that Naruto knew well spoke from next to him, just out of view, "Nice to see you awake Naruto-Kun."_

_Naruto tried to move, only find himself unable to, "O...Orochimaru-Sama, Why can't I move?" Although Naruto could force himself to stop shaking he couldn't quell the fear he felt._

"_You don't need to move Naruto-Kun." There was a squeaking and Orochimaru came into Naruto's peripheral vision and was slowly approaching, a syringe full of sickly green liquid in his hand._

"_What's going on?" Naruto's fear continued to grow and it was accompanied with a feeling of dread._

_Orochimaru grinned as he put the syringe on what seemed to a table next to the table Naruto was and his hand came back into vision with a scalpel, "Don't worry Naruto-Kun, It will only hurt a lot" The tone he used made Naruto feel sick, his arm fell out of Naruto's vision and he felt the sharp point of the scalpel pierce his skin, pushing down into his arm, scraping against the bone._

Naruto suddenly shot up to a sitting position in his bed, a half yell half scream coming from him before he regained his bearings, the gray and definitely unappealing ANBU room coming into focus, Anko was there knelt behind him, her arms around him as Naruto struggled to ease his erratic breathing and slow his rapidly beating heart. Anko didn't bother with words or soothing sounds as many would have, she was just there... that to Naruto helped more than words.

He leaned back into Anko and let out a shaky breath. It was to this scene that Yugao opened the door to. An obviously shaken up Naruto being held by a comforting Anko, "Do you two need some time before we start your ANBU training?"

Naruto shook his head as he leaned forward, "I need to blow off some steam, give us ten minutes."

---------------------------------------------

**ANBU training ground Six**

Neko stared at the three new ANBU that stood before her, outfitted in an ANBU uniform that had been designed for ANBU members that were below Tokubetsu Jonin rank, Full length armoured pants with shinobi sandals that had extra grip added to the bottom and extra armouring, Full sleeved armoured top, full finger gloves with the standard armour plate on the back and added grip, a flak jacket with an attached hood that coupled with the masks covered the entire head, all matte black, Wakashizi had even seen to it that their weapons had matte black sheaths.

Of course Neko herself had changed into a similar outfit to fit in with the squad, minus the hood, she was a Jonin after all; a black Neko mask though had been issued to her by the Hokage and she had gotten a matte black scabbard for her sword, Squad six would make for an impressive sight.

"Today I will start teaching you some ANBU moves, a few Taijutsu moves, a couple of Ninjutsu and the 'disappearing trick'." Kitsune, Hebi and Tora exchanged looks and if they didn't have the black ANBU masks on the grins of the three would be clearly visible. "First we will start on the 'Disappearing trick' which is basically a Shushin with a few extra hand signs; we will finish at 11 so you can get cleaned up for you Genin team training at noon."

------------------------------------------

**The Dead Hand Bar**

Kakashi was still sat at the bar by the time the black clad and masked squad six entered the dead hand, Neko just sighed, "You're late again Kakashi."

Kakashi looked at the clock on the wall, "Team meeting was at nine, I still got an hour to go." He returned his attention to his orange book, "You should know I never show up on time Neko, I never did when I trained you, why should I change now?" Neko laughed and turned to the three rookie ANBU, "This is Hatake Kakashi, former ANBU and one of the best."

"So can I get my book back Anko, it has been about three years now." Kakashi didn't even bother to look up from his book. A stunned silence met his statement before an orange book was taken out of a pocket by Hebi, "You mean this?" Hebi took off towards the Genjutsu wall and disappeared, Kitsune and Tora followed, Kakashi stayed sitting.

"You know I heard a rumour that you had one of your books stolen, I thought that you'd try to get it back." Neko cocked her head in confusion, Kakashi gave an eyesmile, "Anko and Naruto took it from me three years ago... I have heard rumours that the two have only gotten stronger, add Tenzo in the mix and I don't stand a chance." Neko grinned beneath her mask, "the great Hatake Kakashi is scared of three Genin...never thought I'd see the day."

"Damn right I'm scared of them, have you seen Anko with those kunai." The two shared a laugh before Neko entered ANBU HQ and Kakashi began a meandering course towards Training ground 7 whilst thinking of his next excuse.

--------------------------------------

**ANBU HQ Squad six Barracks.**

Naruto and Tenzo stared at their handiwork, dressed in their normal shinobi attire, Naruto in his black pants and long sleeve t-shirt with his beaten red jacket and Tenzo in his black pants with his armoured t-shirt, similar to his ANBU attire. Their Handiwork was attached to the gray wall of the barracks common room, a dartboard... Sasuke's face was on it.

"Fancy a game?" The two grinned at each other and took turns aiming at the Sasuke dartboard. It wasn't long before Anko exited the room she shared with Naruto who took one look and blasted across the room, twin jets of blood from his nose, Tenzo looked over and nodded, "I can see why you got that reaction." Anko stood in her usual Tan trench coat with a tan miniskirt and what looked to be a tan sports bra and a full body fishnet. Anko grinned, "That's the reaction I like."

"You do know we have to drag him to the training grounds now." Anko grinned even wider, The two dragged their unconscious companion to meet with Hayate at Training ground Thirty-Six

--------------------------------------

**Training ground Thirty-Six**

Hayate looked at his three approaching students, noting Anko's attire and Naruto's still bloody nose he came to one conclusion, "Damn horny teenagers."

Once the three were ready Hayate grinned "Today i start *Cough* teaching you three *Cough* how to use your new weapons." Three grins met his and Hayate began instructing the three on how to use their respective weapons. Team six was a force to be reckoned with.

------------------------------------

**Konoha Back Alley**

Neko grinned at her squad, not that it could be seen through her mask, "Welcome to one of the normal entrances to ANBU HQ, there are various entrances like this one spread around Konoha, you will eventually be shown them all so don't worry."

"Where is it?" There were only walls at the end of the alley, no grate or door; that had Kitsune looking around in confusion. Neko smirked and put her hand through a wall, "Here, if you look above the Genjutsu you can see a small triangle etched into the brick, you see it?" Three nods met her and she smiled, let's go then.

The four passed through the Genjutsu wall and opened the heavy steel door that was common to all ANBU HQ entrances, behind the door was a gray circular room, directly across from the entrance was a set of stairs, Three blank masked ANBU were stationed in the room, they gave nods to the members of Squad six as they passed, once they had begun descending the stairs one of the ANBU turned to his companions, "Think they know?" one companion chuckled whilst the other replied, "No, Neko wouldn't tell them." The one who was chuckling put his oar in, "Bet Anko stabs someone." Anko's fondness of knives was known in ANBU, his two teammates didn't take the sucker bet.

------------------------

**ANBU Mess Hall**

A yell of battle cries met the unmasked Squad six as they entered the ANBU HQ mess hall, at the sudden launch of Kunai various tables and chairs were forced to be sacrificed in order to save the lives of various ANBU, one of the ANBU laughed nervously, "Welcome to ANBU." With a thud he fainted, his teammate laughed, "He already started on the Sake."

Tenzo looked at Yugao, "A welcoming party?" He received a nod and a smile, "it's an ANBU tradition, upon entering or leaving ANBU we throw a party, you've got the day off tomorrow, have fun and don't get too drunk."

------------------------

**Streets of Konoha**

The trio were currently walking through the streets of Konoha, the light was fading and both Naruto and Anko were swaying slightly, drunk, Tenzo himself had decided not to drink. "Hey Tenzo, we'll see you back home, we just got something to do." Tenzo couldn't help but feel a chill as he headed back home.

Naruto and Anko headed towards the three figures they had seen, their voices could be heard, "I'm telling you Korean barbecue is the best." One of his companions sighed, "No way can anything Korean beat mackerel and kelp."

------------------------

**Apartment of the troublesome trio**

Tenzo stared at the piece of paper in his hand, it had the address of a restaurant and a time, Naruto had given him some money and told him to be there, that was right before the two had gone to their room and for lack of a better word collapsed onto the bed, Tenzo felt another chill.

--------------------------

**Following day**

Tenzo stared at the person walking down the street, he had to fight to keep his jaw in place; Naruto was either going to get a hand shake or a beating, Tenzo couldn't decide which, in the end he decided to postpone judgment until after.

----------------------------

**Apartment of the troublesome trio**

For Naruto and Anko waking up and finding each other in the same bed was quite a normal thing for them, although this morning was not quite normal; being, as the term was dead drunk, they hadn't quite been able to change properly; normally Naruto would change in the bathroom whilst Anko got changed in their room, usually the two would just wear a pair of short and a t-shirt, this morning as a result of being drunk the two were only in their underwear, which Naruto found himself blushing at, then there was the fact that Anko was awake, and she was hovering just above his face, a noticeable blush on his face...then the hangover hit.

----------------------------

**With Tenzo**

Tenzo had a grin on his face as he returned home, something that was quite noticeable when Ibiki started walking alongside him, "You had a date with a beautiful woman today then?" Tenzo nearly choked, Ibiki laughed, "You did then, I knew I recognized that type of grin." Ibiki put his arm around Tenzo's shoulders, "I think it's time I gave you the Ibiki special Sex ED."

As they walked to the apartment Ibiki talked, Tenzo grew pale and made a decision, never ask Ibiki for advice about women, it was safer that way.

Of course when the two entered the apartment to find Naruto and Anko sat curled up together on the couch and decidedly green Tenzo learnt one important fact, never drink too much at an ANBU welcoming party, the Sake at an ANBU party happens to be stuff that is usually restricted for being highly alcoholic.

* * *

**give me you thoughts on the chapter please, constuctive critisim is welcome, flames will be used to keep me warm.**


	8. Chapter 7

**A cookie goes to EllaAngel for correctly guessing the pairing for Tenzo.**

**Obsidian Fire - no, Naruto does not have the kyuubi, this time his name is Uzumaki for the sole reason of protecting him from the fourth's enemies.**

Marks of the Snake

Chapter 7

_-^-This is boring.-^- _The static voice came into life from the secure ANBU radio channel of squad six, Neko knew that it was Kitsune even with the voice masking technology that was standard to ANBU Radio tec.

_-^- I want to do something fun.-^- _Neko suppressed a shiver at that, when Kitsune and Hebi decided to do something fun... Neko cut off her train of thought there, it could get dangerous, that and squad six were on night patrol duty just outside the north gate, it had been a month since ANBU squad six and Genin team six had been formed, it was clear to both Neko and Hayate that they would soon be unneeded for both teams, Kitsune had proven himself as a capable leader able to come up with a battle plan on the fly and a good close to mid range fighter, his flawless team work with Hebi, the teams second close to mid range fighter made them a near unbeatable duo, Tora with his Mokuton was a skilled long range fighter and tracker and his slightly more analytical mind was good for helping spot flaws in ay plan that Kitsune devised, his tomahawks were useful for close range combat and if needed he could be a mid range fighter.

_-^- Later, we are on duty. -^-_ Tora was also the voice of reason with his two teammates, something Neko was thankful for, Kitsune and Hebi were notorious pranksters, something ANBU members feared them for, two ANBU rookies do not fix the beds for the senior ANBU to explode on contact and get away with it without picking up a reputation for it; she may have hated him but Neko had to admit one thing, Orochimaru had done a damn fine job of training the three.

Neko gave a quick scan around before veering to the left heading towards the main road that led to the north gate for one last check before they swapped with squad four at midnight. As she moved through the trees Neko had to consider, she herself was thinking about retiring from ANBU and settling down with Hayate, within about a month possibly two Naruto could take over as squad leader and he had already decided on who he wanted as a fourth member as a support/medic and long range assault, The Hokage had at first denied the request, the next day he had suddenly granted the request, which was quite odd, regardless they had the fourth member.

All in all, squad six was shaping up nicely.

* * *

**Two Days later**

The third gave a warm smile as Team six entered the office for their next mission, "You have a C rank today." He suppressed his urge to laugh as Naruto and Anko gave an excited yell and even Tenzo gave a grin, "Your mission is to head north-east to the farming village there, they have been having trouble with a few groups of well armed bandits, you are eliminate them and search the surrounding area for bandit activity before returning, Understood?"

A round of nods met his question and Hayate sent his team off to pack whilst he informed Yugao that he was leaving. Hiruzen leaned back and smiled, Naruto, Anko and Tenzo had come a long way from when they had been found in Orochimaru's labs and in Naruto and Anko's case on the verge of death from malnutrition and general blood loss and for Tenzo it had just been malnutrition that had taken a day or two to recover from. Despite the fact this was their first C rank on a patrol the three had killed a group of bandits that had been either dumb enough or drunk enough to think attempting to sneak into a ninja village was a smart idea, the report had suggested that by the smell it had been too much Sake that had caused their foolishness, after a quick chat with Inochi and Ibiki the three had been fine about their first kills, something he was thankful for.

Taking a pen and a piece of paper he began writing a letter, even though he could do nothing to stop it, it would be nice to be informed beforehand that his daughter was being transferred into ANBU, in time anyway. The third shivered as he remembered the moments leading up the reassignment, specifically how when he had mentioned the reassignment request to his drinking companion Teuchi that night, his daughter had overheard and having been an inactive Genin for near on four years had seen her chance to get assigned to a team and as such had held a part of his anatomy at weapon point till he agreed to do the reassignment, Ayame was still skilled with that polearm she was fond of using.

* * *

**Konoha east gate**

Hayate grinned as his team dropped to ground level from the roof tops in front of him at the west gate, half an hour after leaving the Hokage tower, it would have been a struggle for most Chunin to return home and pack and arrive at the gate on time.

"Any questions before we leave?" at the silence from his three Genin he nodded, "Alright, even though this is your first C *cough* rank mission you three are more than qualified for it, the only reason we haven't done one yet is so you *cough* could ease into your ANBU roles." Hayate had given a quick glace before he had mentioned ANBU, "So for this mission Naruto will be team leader." A cheer came from Naruto, "I will be taking a back role and only take command *cough* if I believe one of you is in a life-threatening situation that you are unable *cough* to handle." At the three nods he received he motioned for Naruto to lead the way.

* * *

**Naruto led Genin Team six**

Team six sped through the trees towards their target; Naruto gave a quick glance over his shoulder before he made a hand movement motioning Hayate to move next to him. Once Hayate had pulled alongside Naruto he began speaking, "Do we have to follow any set routine when we meet the client?"

"Not really, the client *cough* should know that you are a Konoha shinobi; try *cough* to avoid giving your name to avoid any attachment from *cough* either party, you get the information before moving out and *cough* setting up camp, staying in the village would *cough* make it a bigger target." Naruto nodded, "Thanks sensei." Hayate gave a grin, "No problem teichou.**"**

Anko laughed as Naruto stumbled.

* * *

**Two Days later – Konoha – Asuma led Team 10**

"I have some bad news" The chain smoking Jonin didn't seem too sad as he spoke to his team. "Ino is being transferred to another team."

"What? Why?" Ino was rather wide eyed, Asuma just shrugged, "From what I know a more experienced team has requested your transfer, you have been ordered to meet with the Hokage for your transfer."

* * *

**Naruto led Genin Team six**

_-^-Lead in position.-^-_ Naruto stood on the trunk of a tree with his back to the underside of a branch on the outskirts of the first bandit camp, with how dark it was the two guards beneath him couldn't see him. The bandit camp was laid out in ordered rows of tents, five by five, a camp fire was at each side with four in total and the guards stayed out of the light to avoid being night blinded.

_-^-Two in position.-^-_Anko was set up in the same manner directly across from Naruto, not that he could see her. _-^-Three, ready-^-_Tenzo was at the right side of the camp in the same position as Naruto, _-^- Four, target in sight.-^- _Hayate was across from Tenzo, Naruto waited for a second before whispering into his radio,

_-^-Engage.-^-_

Naruto cut the chakra flow to his feet and pushed off a little so that he came down directly above the two guards, Naruto landed feet first on the two thugs heads and they dropped boneless to the floor with quiet thuds that could be heard above the laughter from the nearby camp fire.

Unsheathing his two Pantera claws from his thigh holsters he leapt forward and planted his claws into the backs of the two nearest men, pulling the blades out in a spray of blood Naruto leapt into action.

* * *

_-^-Engage.-^-_

Anko dropped in front of her two guards and before they could do anything her combat knives slid between their ribs and into their lungs before Anko pulled her knives out and dashed forward, doing a forward dive Anko decapitated the two men she passed before she hit the ground and rolled coming to a standing position next the fire, sheathing her two combat knives she reached out and hovered her hand over the fire.

The bandits recovered from their shock and readied their weapons; one smirked at Anko, "Looks like we get a little girl to play with." Anko's own grin was a sadistic one, "I'm the one who gets to play."

* * *

_-^-Engage.-^-_

Tenzo dropped from his spot and buried the blades of his twin Tomahawks into the skulls of the two men, yanking them out of the bandit's skulls he secured them in their belt loops before he launched a handful of kunai at the bandits.

* * *

_-^-Engage.-^-_

Hayate dropped from the tree branch and with a quick twist as he landed unsheathed his sword and sliced the two guards in half before he charged at the group.

* * *

"Byakugan" The veins around Naruto's eyes bulged as his eyes bled to a milky white, "No visible targets." Naruto stood in the centre of the bandit camp with Anko, Hayate and Tenzo were looting the tents of money and any useful information. Once they had finished and sealed the loot they moved the edge of the camp, Naruto glanced at Anko and she grinned, turning to the camp she clicked her fingers and a wave of fire consumed the camp, "Bandit camp two down."

"Why don't *cough* I get something cool like *cough* that?"

* * *

**Hokage office**

"Hello Ino, have a seat." The third Hokage smiled at the young girl as she nervously stepped into his office, he wasted no time, "I have had a transfer request from another team that wants you as a long range support member." Ino gave a nervous nod. "I have decided to grant the request for this transfer although in the end the decision will ultimately be up to you, there are things you will need to know about the team you may be joining, if you decide not to transfer you will be sworn to secrecy on the information I am about to give you, is that clear?"

Ino nodded, "Yes Hokage-Sama." The third gave a slight nod, "The team I want you to transfer to is a Genin squad and unofficially they are also an ANBU squad." Ino's eyes widened, "Y...you want me to transfer into ANBU squad?" A wry grin came from the old man, "you would have to wait two months before joining ANBU and would work with them on normal Genin duties, you would also be required to be a mental therapist to two of your squad mates and perhaps learning medical skills would be useful. You would have a lot of responsibility but the pay also goes up by quite a large amount."

Ino was silent for a few minutes, "What team would I be assigned to?" The third suppressed his smirk, "Team six" Ino seemed to think for a second before she realised just who was on Team six, "When can I transfer?"

'_Hook line and sinker, maybe Ayame was right, we could have the most powerful ninja team ever to exist here.'_

* * *

**Naruto led Team six**

Team six rushed through the canopy of the trees in a staggered line formation, Naruto at point, Anko behind and to the left, Hayate was behind her and to the right, Tenzo was at the back and centre, "You guys did *cough* good, you performed *cough* flawlessly, Naru..."

He was cut off by a twin scream of pain, Naruto and Anko both stumbled and faltered, Hayate dived and caught Anko using his chakra to stick to the bottom of a branch with a hold on Anko's wrist, there was a thud and a bone snapping sound from the forest floor as Tenzo gave a yell, "Naruto!"

A circle of blood surrounded the blond from his impact with the floor.

* * *

**Things are beginning to come together now, a cookie to anyone to guess what happen to Naruto and Anko.**


	9. Chapter 8

Not as good as i would have liked but regardless.

Obsidian Fire, Play4ever and EllaAngel All three were right.

To Obsidian Fire

Kyuubi did not attack, Minato and Kushina are both dead though, Killed by Iwa assassins shortly after the birth of Naruto

Marks of the snake

Chapter 8

**Genin team six**

Hayate righted himself on the branch he had stuck to and awkwardly pulled Anko into his arms more securely; carrying the young girl bridal style he carefully leapt from tree to tree till he reached the ground near Naruto. Tenzo was already next to the face down Naruto, a look of worry on his face as his hands reached out in an uncertain gesture, unsure of how to help.

Hayate set Anko down on the floor and once he had her situated on the forest floor in what he hoped was a comfy position he began to head towards Naruto only to freeze as he saw something that caused him to take a sharp breath.

A dull red glow emanated from the left side of her neck, acting quickly Hayate crouched low to get a look at what he knew was a cursed seal, he barked an order at Tenzo, "Secure the perimeter and get a fire going." Tenzo seemed startled for a moment before he dashed off.

Hayate glanced at the bleeding form of Naruto and mentally winced as he accessed to damage, head trauma, broken nose, possibly fractured skull, what appeared to be a dislocated right shoulder and most likely a few broken or cracked ribs.

Forming a cross seal with his hand and with a whisper of "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu." A carbon copy of Hayate burst into existence next to him and sped off towards Konoha.

Gently moving the collar of Anko trench coat Hayate spotted the cursed seal that looked remarkably similar to a three tomoe sharingan, rather than its usual black the seal pulsed a dull fire red that seemed to be gaining in intensity. Moving quickly Hayate checked on Naruto, his wounds were healing at a remarkable rate from his Koudo Chiyu, his advanced healing bloodline.

Being no medic Hayate did the only thing he really knew, checked to make sure Naruto was breathing and rolled him on to his right side into the recovery position, the cursed seal on the left side of his neck pulsed the same dull fire red as Anko's seal.

Tenzo dropped into the clearing from the trees, "Perimeter is secure, nothing there."

**Konoha**

The Sandaime made a quick hand motion and a blank masked ANBU was knelt on the floor in front of his desk, wasting no time the old man spoke in a sharp tone that held no room for argument, "Get me ANBU squad four here, now, I do not care where they are or what they are doing, get them here within five minutes, then get ANBU squads seven and eight and Neko."

The kneeling ANBU disappeared and within Five Minutes four figures and an inuzuka dog were stood in front of him, three blank masked ANBU, two of them male and the other female and the eagle masked female ANBU, Washi with her dog stood next to her.

Within minutes the four were dashing towards the gate, ANBU take care of their own after all.

_The five year old blond boy stared into the face of the snake like man with the black slit pupils; the man gave a warm smile._

_The boy was sat in the back of a dark dirty alley, the man handed him a carton and packet from a pouch, "Come on Orochi, the old man wants us to report in." The man shook his head at the voice that came from the entrance to the alley; he then smiled at the boy "What's your name?"_

_The boy gave a quizzical look to the man before he gave a wary reply, "Naruto." _

"_My name is Orochimaru; do you want to come with me? I have a place you can stay." The boy gave a small smile before he stood._

**Genin team six**

Hayate looked up as Tenzo and the ANBU squad dropped into the clearing, with a motion from Washi the two male ANBU and Tenzo were gone again to keep a continuous watch on the perimeter. The blank masked ANBU knelt by Naruto and performed some hand signs, her hands glowed green as she ran them over Naruto.

Washi knelt next to the other female ANBU as she began a report, "His injuries have healed thanks to his bloodline, there is a minor amount of internal bleeding but nothing serious... if he has received any damage from his head wound we won't know until he wakes up." She continued after a sigh, "I have no idea when he could wake up, the seal is interfering with his consciousness and his chakra coils... it could mean that Orochimaru is nearby."

Washi looked at the seal on Naruto and cursed, "I think he is... we wait for back-up then we move. Can we move them?"

Doing a quick medical scan on Anko the other ANBU nodded, "they can both be moved without any problems."

_Naruto stared at the three children that had been brought into the house with him; a purple haired girl with brown eyes, a boy with dark hair and similar dark eyes and a girl that had fire like hair and a piercing red gaze. All four of the children were dirty and dressed in rags._

_Naruto grinned, "I'm Naruto Uzumaki."_

_The purple haired girl grinned, "Anko Mitarashi."_

_The dark haired boy kept a blank look, "Hideki Ryuga."_

_The red haired girl gave a small smile, "Akuma Tenma."_

"Alright, squad seven, you four are in charge of carrying Naruto and Anko back to Konoha; squad four, take point; squad eight, rear guard; myself, Tenzo and Hayate will keep a close guard on squad seven." Neko gave a quick glance around after giving her orders.

The group was about to move off before a sudden hand motion from one of the members of squad four had every one dropping into combat stances.

"Kukuku." The sound had the blood of every Konoha shinobi turn cold.

_Even though they had been bought new clothes the day before the four were still uneasy in them and wore their rags that they had for the most part grown up in, "So how did you get here Akuma?" Anko looked up at the night sky as the four sat in the garden of Orochimaru's house._

_Akuma spoke in a slow voice, "I was born with red hair and eyes as well as four fangs; even though I didn't have any normal teeth I had these fangs." She took a deep breath, "A week later I was in an orphanage with a letter about how they hated their demon child, hence my name. The orphanage was just as bad."_

_Hideki gave a sad smile, "Same here, except I was left because my parents couldn't take care of me, they wanted to so... I can't blame them."_

_Anko flopped back to onto the ground "I only know my parents were killed shortly after I was born so I ended up in the orphanage."_

_Naruto looked down, "I never knew anything about my parents, even knowing if they hated me would help, as far as I know I just came into existence."_

One of the male masked ANBU of squad eight jumped to the side as snakes shot from one of the sleeves of Orochimaru, Hayate drew his blade and ran forwards towards the missing-nin, the four men of squad eight followed him towards the Sannin, Kunai and shrunken flew from the running shinobi.

Orochimaru just smirked and with what could only be described as a snake-like fluidity seemed to slip around the projectiles. Hayate leapt aiming to remove Orochimaru's head with his sword, Orochimaru just simply leaned back and let the blade slice through the air in front of him, he side stepped the vertical downward follow-up slash and let his hand lash out in a palm strike to the man's exposed chest.

Hayate flew backwards and collided with a tree, splintering the bark around him. Two members of squad seven picked up the unconscious forms of Naruto and Anko and leapt backwards out of the combat zone, Neko, the other two members of squad seven and Tenzo followed; Tenzo held his black curved knife in a white knuckled death grip.

Four fireballs broke from the canopy towards Orochimaru's back from the four Ninja of squad four, another wave of Kunai flew towards Orochimaru from squad eight; Orochimaru stood in place as both attacks came flying towards him. The fireballs exploded as they made contact with the Sannin.

The inferno made the ninja of squad eight jump back and take cover from the heat, Hayate leapt into the cover of the trees. It was a few seconds before the lack of screaming became obvious.

Neko spoke into her ANBU radio and made a hand motion and everyone but, Tenzo, Hayate and Neko were heading to Konoha, Neko made a motion to Tenzo who sighed and dashed off.

Hayate stopped next to Neko and gave her a quizzical look before he dashed off in pursuit of his comrades. Neko stared at the form of Orochimaru that was stood in one of the higher branches of a tree with a sad look on his face. Neko ran towards Konoha.

**Hours later – Konoha**

"Are you sure?" The third gave a disbelieving stare at Neko as she finished her report.

Neko nodded, "Positive." The third sighed with the weight of his age, "Things are more complicated than we thought."

**Uzumaki Apartment**

Naruto stared at the roof from his position of lying in bed, Anko was next to him and his hand held hers. "We were too weak Anko-Chan, we couldn't fight it." Naruto's voice sounded like he was on the verge of crying.

"Then we get stronger, we step up our training, we take harder missions, we train with some of the older ANBU, we get stronger, then we go for him." Anko's voice was hard and determined, "We know that sitting around crying doesn't do anything, we move on." Naruto smiled, "Yeah."

Anko gave her own grin and with her free hand pulled a book from beneath the pillow, a decidedly orange book.

* * *

Cookie to who can tell me the tribute i put in for my all time fave anime character

The Next chapter will take some time to come out and will be called 'Turning Back Time.'


	10. Notice

I know that a few people were wanting me to update, this is not an abandonment notice.

For a long while I lost my inspiration for this story, so I reread it and thought to myself what the hell have I done.

I completely failed to get across the personalities I envisioned them having and I failed to give them the bonds with people such as Ibiki and Inoichi that I wanted them to have aside from those two points I made one or two mistakes in the story as a result of my brain moving too fast or forgetting some of the smaller details.

As such I have decided to rewrite to make this story into what I want it to be, I hope everyone who has alerted this story will continue to read when I begin to repost the new rewritten chapters although I am under no illusions that they will.

Sorry for this massive delay but I feel it a failure on my part to not get across the story I envisioned, almost all the major plot points will stay the same so the direction the story is taking will stay the same.

On the upside as soon as I put this notice up I will be putting up the brand new prologue with the new first chapter to be finished soon, it stands right now at 2211 words and only covers a part of the original first chapter.

The rating will likely go up as I have been influenced by black lagoon so expect the characters to be slightly rougher round the edges so to speak. I will leave it as it is and I hope those who read this story will inform me if I need to change it.

Thanks to all those reading, Particularly to Evci, Stormraven, c im am a dragon and EllaAngel, who I remember having reviewed some of my other stories, Yami Kurushimi (I don't think I am a good writer but that may be because I compare what I do to my favourite book series 'the wheel of time'), Obsidian Fire (Thank you for making me think of some matters that I didn't clear up.) The Greatest of These is Love, (I actually messed up one of my favourite film quotes, I feel ashamed.)

I think i'll leave this there, it's one in the morning and I need sleep.


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